The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4) by Jonathan Brooks (e book reading free txt) 📕

of Avensglen about the changes that have happened; Gerold, I need your help combating the Goblins and Golems that I can already see are running rampant through their Areas of Influence now that there isn’t anything directly opposing them. *

  “That…is true.  But can’t you just send in your monsters and deal with them?  Why do you need our help?”

* Oh, I certainly can send in my constructs and Dungeon Monsters, but I need your expertise in combating what they’re likely to go up against.  I was woefully unprepared when I went up against the Undead Monsters, lacking the knowledge to successfully deal with them, and I don’t want to make that mistake again.  Besides, I think your Shieldmen need something to do and feel like they’re being productive, because I can tell they are restless already. *

“My Shieldmen?  I’m not their leader.”

* You might not think that, but Delarthe – who I thought might be in charge – seems to think you are; you can deny it all you want, but they’re already yours.  You might as well act the part.  I have some preparations to make before I’ll be able to help, however, so you’ll be largely on your own at first. *

Sandra could see Gerold looking off to the entrance of the Dwarven tunnels, where his people were safe in their rooms.  He nodded slowly without saying anything else before he took off towards those same tunnels.  The Dungeon Core assumed he was going to start getting his people together now that he had an objective to accomplish.  She had a couple of constructs she could spare to help them with their culling, including a Multi-access Repair Drone in case they got hurt, but the eventual culling force she wanted to create was going to take a little bit of time and Mana to assemble.

This was part of what they had discussed the previous night during their meeting – before they all collapsed on their beds in exhaustion – which included the part about flying.  Sandra knew they weren’t expecting transport of such epic proportions, but the Aerie Roc was the best choice they had to get everyone to their leadership with plenty of time to spare.  Or so she hoped.

At least the harness had been relatively easy to craft with a few of her Steel-clad Apes, using some of her stockpiled leather and metal rings made out of Titanium.  The spikes underneath the main strip along the back of the Roc were made of Steel because she had a lot of that material to work with, but she made sure the fastening rings were of stronger metal so that they would hold up longer.  She wished she had time to affix the leather with enchantments to increase its strength and durability, but her Unstable Shapeshifters were busy on another project.  Regardless, the harness was sturdily crafted and should perform perfectly for the job it was designed to do – namely, hold people and supplies.

“How—” Violet started to ask before her voice cracked.  She cleared her throat and went on.  “How are you going to be able to control these giant birds all the way to our capital?  I thought you mentioned at some point that you lose control of your monsters once they leave your area of influence, and that they’ll be destroyed without your direction.”

“I think I have the answer to that,” Echo cut in before Sandra could explain.  “When we were in the other dungeon, Gerold, Felbar, and I were completely cut off from Sandra; that also meant that her monsters were cut off as well.  Just before we lost contact, I felt some sort of change abruptly wash over me – and I could control the monsters with just some simple directions.  I was also able to transfer over some of that control for specific monsters to Felbar, which helped with the separation of duties.  I’m assuming this was all because of this ‘bond’ we have with the Dungeon Core, otherwise I can’t explain it.”

That was what Sandra assumed was the case, and it was good that the others had figured that out.

* Precisely.  When you were inside that dungeon and the entrance collapsed, it was as if you were entirely out of my Area of Influence, and you were able to control the constructs and Dungeon Monsters with you.  That is going to be incredibly important going forward, and not only for transportation; there’ll likely be times when one of you will have to direct some of my creations outside of my AOI to reach other Monsters from the nearby dungeons. *

They were all silent for a while as they digested that information, as well as the repercussions of that knowledge.  “This is getting bigger than I really understood,” Felbar suddenly said, looking around at the others.  “It’s not just this area around the wastelands anymore; it’s not just us versus a few dungeons around here; and it won’t be just our people against the threat the dungeons present, but a massive undertaking that will require more than just the assistance of Sandra’s constructs and monsters, not to mention supplies like Energy Orbs.  I think it will also require us all to work together to survive, because we can’t do it by ourselves.”

The others slowly nodded, agreeing with him; Sandra couldn’t help but feel proud that they finally understood what she had figured out long ago.  Sandra was powerful, with a greater ability to access Mana and do things that no other Core could do, but she couldn’t do it all herself; this was going to be a group effort, and only when all the races could work together would they all survive.

Kelerim looked a bit depressed, though.  “I feel like I’m the weakest link here; if we all need to work together, I’m not sure how to go about that with my people.  I’m basically kill-on-sight